May: What I Read

I am really into Karin Slaguhter audiobooks right now, as you can see from my list below. There are A DOZEN library books on my shelf and some Book of the Month books, too, but I can't stop listening!

Girl A by Abigail Dean: Ugh. This was rough and creepy. Based on stories of kids escaping houses of horror-- blech. I liked Slaughter better. At least I knew what I was getting into. **2021

Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter: A dark, dark thriller. ** AUDIOBOOK**

Broken by Karin Slaughter: ANOTHER ONE **AUDIOBOOK**

Indelible by Karin Slaughter: SAME. I am reading Slaughter's Grant County series out of order because you can't be picky about what audiobooks show up on the library app when **AUDIOBOOK**

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter: Another fabulous one. I am addicted to theeeeeeeeese.

 The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter: Ooooooooh, this one was gooooooood. **AUDIOBOOK** **2021

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson: Eventually, I liked this, but it was quite a slog. Larson has a knack for making fascinating historical moments boring. **AUDIOBOOK**

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner: Read this! So entertianing. **AUDIOBOOK**

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb: SO DARK. Some flaws in the plot and it took me a second to get into it, but I ultimately really liked this one. *2021

Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson: I love her! Also, I stayed up until 1 am reading this book  because I had to know what happened to the BABY. *2021

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel: Ok, listen. I liked this book. There were some really succinct and heartbreaking descriptions. BUT ALSO. So much of the book's spare style was due to the total stereotypes the author invoked for all of the minor characters and some of the mains. I think American Dirt was in a lot of ways more fleshed out. *2021

Good Company by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney: Loved this! Read it in fact in a single nap time. If you liked The Nest, you will like this on a lot. Theater people, marriage drama, musings on again-- I was all in. *2021

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro: OH WOW! This is about a robot who is a friend to a girl in a messed up family. It's gorgeously written and really well plotted-- you should read it. *2021

End of May

Baseball pictures!

The other day, I left my stroller in the hockey rink parking lot because we have to park in the hockey rink parking lot to go to baseball, and I was apparently distracted putting all the kids in the car. I didn't notice that the stroller was gone FOR SIX HOURS, until I went to grab it from the trunk after dinner. Some lovely person put it in the lost and found, and we were THRILLED

Ben, Dorothy, and Cooper finished HP book 3, so we had themed snacks for movie night

Pool night! I wore sweats! She wore a sweater!

 

First! 2! Pool! Days!

 First of all, LET ME JUST SAY: these should not have been pool days. I was so cold today in my clothes at the pool's edge that I had to go home and get sweat pants. Minnie wore a sweater. BOTH DAYS. 

But I slapped a filter on my pics, and it looks downright SUMMERY.

And really truly, not having to shove my postpartum body into a swimsuit has been pretty great. Plus! I took the middle 3 kids while Minnie napped today and read like half a book.

Bring it, summer!

Pool day!

 But! It was only 60 degrees today. Pro: we had pleeeeeeenty of room to social distance. Con: IT WAS SIXTY FREAKING DEGREES.

Also, notice that Harry is not in this picture? ME TOO. He is too cool to come to the pool with us anymore, and I was NOT READY.

Dive season. It is upon us. Expect more of these.

Mask angst

 I just ordered a creepy skin tone color Hannibal Lecter mask (not really, but sort of) for Dorothy to wear to her outdoor dance recital. Weird times.

Ben and I took Minnie to Trader Joe's-- our first time since 2/19 and her probably ONLY time because on June 2, our county drops its mask mandate. I am OK with taking the other kids out still-- especially to run into store real fast-- because they can wear masks and stay in line with the CDC's advice for unvaccinated people. Minnie can't, so I want to keep her mostly outdoors. IS THIS WEIRD? What are you doing with your unvaxxed kids, especially those too little for masks??

Like this nosy neighbor:

Almost summer!

So far, hats are the enemty.

 The pool opens this weekend, which is hard to believe because it is rainy and IN THE FORTIES right now. But! This was a couple days ago-- sunny, 80, and wonderful:

I am all the time sun's out guns out because I have a terrible t-shirt tan.

Turtle-watching:

We are stumbling toward the end of the school year... more on that later.

No ear infection!!

 But her left one was red, so we need to follow up if she gets fussy or the bad sleep continues. She weighed 18 pounds, 6 ounces, making her 2 pounds heavier than a 9 month-old Dorothy and right on par with her brothers who were all between 8 pounds 13 oz and 8 pounds 5 ounces at that age.

A woman in the waiting room was coughing uproariously, and I was SO ANGRY that she wasn't roomed faster. The pediatrician agreed with me and said she would follow up. I was super hesitant to even TAKE Minnie to the clinic in the first place and then the coughing! Ugh.

We also had baseball last night and tried to spectate, but Minnie is... not a fan of being off her post-dinner routine, a character trait we will test tonight with 2 baseballs and a dance class YIKES.